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Quartz
SiO2 trigonal
Austrian perfection, Ziller valley Amethyst, found by Gerhard and Hannes Hofer
Amethyst from the Saurüssel, 10x10cm. Great find from the Hofer brothers
A "Stoasuacha" and his treasure
Reinhold Bacher with the largest Quartz ever found in the Lungau area
A "Stoasuacha" in her preferred habitat
Petra Morolz inside a Rock Crystal cleft in the Ankogel group
Quartz from Austria
Austria covers a major part of the Eastern Alps, an area of outstanding beauty and of great interest geologically and mineralogically.
Since ages the people from Austria have been collecting minerals, mainly Quartz. The so called "Stoasuacha" (rock searchers) were usually farmers or herds who looked for crystals when herding the flock high up the alps during the summer. They would sell them to collectors or cutters in order to get through the long winters.
Collecting Quartz is a way of life for the "Stoasuacha", when the first snow melts in spring they get up in the mountains, sometimes for days on end. They "read" the geology and look for signs that may tell them where a cleft is hidden.
The moment of finding a cleft in the Alps is one that you will never forget, the first sight into a pocket full of crystals, closed since millions of years.
There are many fantastic local collections in Austria, some of them resemble a museum, and some of them are open for public.
It is still possible to find good specimens in the Austrian Alps although one has to climb high, work hard and have a large portion of luck.
Many of the local "Stoasuacha" sell specimens on shows and from their homes. Be prepared to pay a considerable price for a good specimen....
To describe Austrian Quartz finds in an introductory text is a mission impossible. Many outstanding finds have been made during the ages: giant smoky Quartzes, huge and perfect Rock Crystals, exquisite Amethyst sceptres and so on and so on.......especially in the mountauns of the Hohe Tauern, covering large parts of Salzburg, Carinthia and Tyrol.
Some remarkable Quartz finds should however be mentioned here shortly (they will be described in more detail in the text under the locality entries)
In 1934 Alois Steiner sen. and Hubert Prossegger found a cleft on Breitkopf mountain containing 500kg of the finest quality Morion crystals. In 1965 Peter Meilinger and Hans Hofer found huge Quartz crystals in the icy Eiskögele north face. crystals weighing up to 618kg!
The famous Kandutsch clefts; the Eiskluft and the Morionkluft, both on Hocharn mountain, where Georg Kandutsch found spectacular Quartz specimens, sometimes under very extreme conditions! And the "Kristalkeller" on Ankogel mountain. A huge cleft delivering over 2000kg of Quartz crystals.
And of course the famous Wiesbachrinne find made by Lois and Andy Steiner, Morion crystals as perfect as they are dark. Andy Steiners "Skeletquarze" (sceletonquartz), bizarrely etched crystals over 1m large, should also be mentioned. Alfred Aichberger found the largest smoky Quartz of the eastern Alps in the Sattelkar, 203kg, water clear and coffee brown. The largest Amethyst of the Eastern Alps was found by Kurt Novak in the Saurüssel, 1985. In 1972 a true Quartz bonanza happened after the discovery of large Quartzes in Obergösel. Finally I'd like to mention the finds of the Hofer brothers, Hannes and Gerhard. They found amazing Amethysts in the Saurüssel (one of them is pictured above in the introduction photo), in my opinion the most beautiful Amethyst ever found in the Alps. In 2009 they found a spectacular large cross shaped Quartz specimen in the Eiskögele north face, near the Meilinger-Hofer cleft from 1965.
Quartz
Austria
Carinthia, Hohe Tauern Mts, Ankogel group
Quartz Grauleiten 15cm Quartz Schwarzkopf 21cm
Opening a cleft in the Ankogel group
Working a cleft pic.1 Working a cleft pic.2
Working a cleft pic.3 Working a cleft pic.4
Working a cleft pic.5 The result: A perfect Rock Crystal from the Ankogel group, 31x25cm
On pic.1 we have a first look inside the freshly opened large Alpine cleft. Rock Crystals can be seen on the left side pocket wall.
On pic.2 the lucky finder can see two fabulous surfaces of a large Rock Crystal. At this moment the finder is worried a lot because he does not know yet whether the top of the crystal is undamaged or not.
On pic.3 the finder carefully tries to take away the surrounding crystals and pieces of rock hoping that the huge Rock Crystal, which is not fixed to the cleft ceiling any more, is undamaged. Luckily the crystal must have broken off the ceiling quite some time ago.
On pic.4 the finder of the crystal can hear his heart pounding heavily because he now realizes that he has found something really special. The 30 cm long and about 25 cm thick crystal seems appears to be undamaged and is of gorgeous quality.
On pic.5 we see the result, a completely undamaged perfect Rock Crystal.
Dösenbach valley, Ankogel group
Quartz Dösenbach 18cm Japan law twin Dösenbach 2,5x2cm
Quartz Dösenbach 11,5cm Prase Quartz Dösenbach 18cm
Quartz Dösenbach 4x5cm Quartz Dösenbach 6x6cm
Quartz Dösenbach 12cm Quartz Dösenbach 8x10cm
In 1980 a one off find was made by Gerfried Bacher and Herbert Forstnig.
On Eckriegel mountain in Dösenbach valley Gerfried discovered a cleft with wonderful Prase groups. While working, his friend Herbert had to "relieve" himself. When he had found a suitable place for this, a little sparkling thing caught his eye when he bent down to have a ****. It was a very nice Sceptre Quartz lying between the roots of a fallen tree. He began to dig right there and found a cleft with outstanding and bizarre groups of Prase. On top of that nearly all the specimens were totally undamaged. Some of the dark green Prase groups also had water clear Sceptre Quartzes integrated which gave them an amazing contrast. Today the best specimens can be seen at the private museum Kirchler in Ahrntal, Southern Tyrol.
Auernig, Ankogel group
Quartz Auernig 9x8cm Quartz Auernig 12x8cm
Quartz Auernig 13x10cm Quartz Auernig 7,5x3,5cm
In 1982 Heli Prieml, together with Traudl and Adi Mittinger, were looking for clefts on the slopes of Ankogel mountain. They found a Quartz vein and after three days of fruitless work they suddenly looked into one of the largest Quartz clefts ever found in the area. They were afraid that other people would rob the Quartzes, so they guarded the cleft during the night, even during thunderstorms. Nine more days were spent extracting the crystals before Heli had to go home to his farm to bring in the hey. They closed the entrance carefully and left, to return a couple of weeks later. Before they left they asked the employees of the ski-lifts to notify other collectors that the cleft was being worked. In the Alps this means that no one else should work the cleft during that time, age old "Stoasuacha" ethics!
But the word travelled fast, soon other collectors broke the oath and started working on a cleft that wasn't theirs to work on. When Heli Prieml and the Mittingers came back to continue their work they couldn't believe what they saw, all they could do was cry.
Over 2000kg of fine Quartz crystals came from the cleft.
Quartz
Austria
Carinthia, Hohe Tauern Mts, Goldberg group, Große Fleiß valley, Hocharn Mt.
Rutilated Quartz Hocharn 3cm
Quartz west slope 10x10cm Quartz Hocharn 11,5cm
Quartz Hocharn 10x8cm Quartz Hocharn 9x8cm
Hocharn Southwest face
Quartz southwest face 6,5cm Quartz southwest face 9x12cm
Quartz southwest face 11,5cm Quartz southwest face 5,5cm
Smoky Quartz in situ Dr. Georg Kandutsch
Carinthia's most spectacular Smoky Quartzes were unearthed from a 14 meters deep cleft in the Hocharn southwest face by Dr. Georg Kandutsch in the 1980's.
Because it was located at an altitude of about 3000m the cleft was filled with ice and during the process of melting the ice with gas burners he found an anorak 3 meters deep inside the cleft. It must have belonged to the legendary Carinthian 'Strahler' Sebastian Brandstätter. Georg immediately realised he was working the fabulous cleft from which Sebastian Brandstätter had brought home his most beautiful Morion groups in the early 1970's, before he tragically lost his life on the mountain that had made him famous for his outstanding finds.
Behind Sebastian's anorak Georg was working "virgin" territory. He found Morion groups of unsurpassed beauty and quality, aesthetically accompanied by yellow Ankerite. Taking the huge clusters from the narrow and deep cleft turned out to be an arduous task. Georg and his helping friends got cold and wet, their fingers bleeding from all the Quartz shards and sometimes they nearly suffocated in the cleft because the gas burners they used to thaw the ice would deprive the cleft of oxygen. But the beauty and quality of the specimens made him continue. Finally he found his best specimens where the cleft pinched out, 14 meters deep.
In 1994 Georg Kandutsch discovered another cleft on the mountain together with Norbert Moser and Walter Tabernig, and in 1997 Georg Kandutsch found a huge 300kg heavy Quartz group.
Matthias and Norbert Daxbacher found exceptionally beautiful Amethysts on the Hocharn
Quartz
Austria
Carinthia, Hohe Tauern, Goldberg group, Zirknitz, Große Zirknitz valley, Sandkopf
Quartz Sandkopf 9cm tall Quartz sceptre Sandkopf 5cm tall
Quartz Sandkopf 8x6cm tall Quartz Sandkpf, 12x11cm tall
Quartz
Austria
Carinthia, Hohe Tauern, Goldberg group, Zirknitz, Große Zirknitz valley, Sandkopf
Amethyst 21,5cm tall Amethyst 16cm tall
Amethyst 10cm tall Amethyst 5cm tall
An amazing Amethyst cleft was found on Sandkopf mountain in 1987 by Martin Pirker. When he was walking up the mountain he first could not believe his eyes. In an area with almost no rocks where he had not expected to find anything he saw a huge sceptre quartz standing out of the grass. He began digging there and came to a cleft filled with Amethyst crystals. Together with Norbert Moser he rescued Amethyst sceptres up to 25 cm tall, showing intense colour and high lustre. Although many crystals were damaged there were at least 20 excellent specimens in the cleft. Each of them is unsurpassed in Europe.
Quartz
Austria
Carinthia, Hohe Tauern Mts, Reißeck group
Quartz Böse Nase 5,6cm Quartz Hintereggengraben 5cm
Southeastern part of the Hohe Tauern Mts, located south of the Ankogel group
Hintereggengraben/Mühldorfer Graben, Reißeck group
Amethyst with smoky phantom, 11,5cm tallHintereggengraben 4,5cm
Hintereggengraben 7cm Hintereggengraben 11cm
Mühldorfer Graben 6,5cm Hintereggengraben 6cm
The mountain ridge between Böse Nase and Hochegg in Hintereggengraben is a top spot for Quartz collectors. Although no real spectacular big finds are reported from there, with clefts being normally small, the most interesting and in my opinion the most beautiful Sceptre Quartzes of the Eastern Alps can be found there. The Quartzes impress by the enormous variety in colour, with beautiful phantoms inside. Opening a cleft there sometimes is really very special because the lucky finder might get something that he had never seen before in such a perfection. Mostly very dark Smoky Quartzes can be collected. Amethysts are very very rare but can be extraordinarily beautiful. Sometimes white sceptres sit on dark black Smoky Quartzes.
Quartz
Austria
Lower Austria, Waldviertel, Maissau, Amethyst vein
Amethyst specimen size: 0,5 x 1m Amethyst 10cm high
Amethyst 60 x 40cm Amethyst 12 x 12cm
This amethyst vein was discovered during quarry workings on the Maissauer Höhe around 1845. The vein has a dimension of 0.5 - 1 m in thickness and a confirmed length of 400 m. The estimated length is 1000 m! This vein is provided in the "Maissauer Granit", a part of the Thayapluton.
A part of the vein was opened and since 2005 a museum called Amethystwelt ('Amethyst world') on top of the vein is showing crystals up to 15 cm in situ.
Quartz
Austria
Salzburg, Hohe taurn Mts, Felben valley
Quartz Schiedergraben 12cm
Mineralized clefts in amphibolites.
In this small eastern side valley of the lower Felben valley, nice Quartz specimens and exceptionally large titanite (to 7 cm), apatite (to 3 cm), pyrrhotite (to 10 x 15 x 20 cm) and chalcopyrite crystals (to 4 x 3 x 4 cm) were found.
Quartz
Austria
Salzburg, Hohe Tauern Mts, Gastein valley
Quartz Schwarzkopf 2cm Quartz Schwarzkopf 23,5cm
Quartz Romate peak 7cm Quartz Silberpfennig 15cm
In October 2005 Erwin Scheider was still looking for crystals near his home in Böckstein. He inspected a spot where he once found a nice Fluorite. Because he couldn't find a good hold on the steep slope he decided to dig a foothold. Upon doing so he heard the typical noise of iron against Quartz. He dug deeper and found a Quartz vein. Soon a hole opened and he could take out the first Quartzes. Groups and loose crystals up to 35cm long. He had to stop working the cleft when the snow came. During winter he informed his friend Walter Pfeffer and as soon as the snow was gone they returned. The cleft turned out to be huge. Together they worked days on end and the most fantastic smoky Quartz crystals came out. Some of them up to 60cm long, weighing up to 82kg, and they were very clear, with great lustre and undamaged.
Quartz
Austria
Salzburg, Hohe Tauern Mts, Habach valley
Quartz Habachkees 14,5cm
Valley famous for the Emerald deposit, but also very rich in mineralised Alpine clefts.
Breitkopf Mt., Habach valley
Quartz Breitkopf 7,5cm Quartz Breitkopf 13cm
In 1934 Lois Steiner sen, together with Hubert Prossegger, found a very large smoky Quartz cleft on Breitkopf mountain. 500kg of excellent quality smoky Quartz crystals came out of the cleft, the largest weighing 52kg.
After the find they got in trouble with the forestry and only after one whole year they could recollect their find at the forestry department.
Only one photo and a cut crystal remain from the find.
Leffler Brunnen, Habach valley
Quartz Leffler 6cm Quartz Anatase Leffler 5cm
"Schwarzphyllit" (black phyllite) outcrops and blocks situated near the Leffler Brunnen (Leffler source), on the orographic left side of the lower Habach valley.
The outcrops and blocks are particularly rich in TiO2 minerals and quartz in clefts.
A series of small clefts were found by Harjo Neutkens in 2005. They produced nice Quartz crystals up to 12cm but most importantly some Quartz groups were covered with hundreds of Anatase crystals.
Teufelsmühle, Habach valley
Quartz Teufelsmühle 10cm Quartz Teufelsmühle 8,7cm
Mineralized clefts in chlorite amphibolite.
Located about 1 km NNW of Leiterkogel mountain.
Famous for "Skeletquarz" or in English corroded Quartz; dramatically etched Quartz crystals. Fantastic specimens of these, with single crystals to over 1m in length, from the find by Andy Steiner and Heinz Kirchtag can be seen in the museum of Bramberg, Austria.
Wiesbachrinne, Habach valley
Wiesbachrinne Quartz on display, note the different shades of smoky colour of crystals from the same cleft
Quartz Wiesbachrinne 15cm Quartz 9cm
Talc schist outcrops and mineralisations in cavernous gneisses. Located SW of Schafkopf mountain and NW of Nasenkopf mountain. Famous for very dark smoky Quartz specimens.
Large smoky quartz find in 1993 by Andy Steiner in the upper Wiesbachrinne. The best smoky Quartz from Austria came from that cleft, crystals up to 40cm and specimens up to 70cm with very dark smoky Quartz, Morion at its best. They, Andy and Reinhard Heim, worked on a small cleft that got bigger and bigger. At the end of the day it started to look like there was a system of clefts. They found very nice smoky Quartzes and they showed them to Alois, Andy's father, and to Manfred, Reinhard's son. They decided to come along and for days on end they worked the cleft system. The spectacular Morion specimens can now be seen at the Steiner's private museum in Steinach-Bramberg as well as in the Bramberg museum.
Quartz
Austria
Salzburg, Hohe Tauern Mts, Hollersbach valley, Scharnbachgraben
Quartz Schafkopf 17cm Quartz Scharn 22cm
Info:
Quartz
Austria
Salzburg, Hohe Tauern Mts, Obersulzbach valley
Quartz Seekar 23,5cm Quartz Schleiferspitze 16cm
Quartz Kampriese 14cm Quartz Wartkopf 10cm
Several very good localities for excellent Quartz crystals. Alfred Aichberger found the largest smoky Quartz from the eastern Alps in the Sattelkar. An undamaged 203kg heavy, perfectly clear, coffee brown Quartz crystal. Many friends helped to get the crystal down the slopes into the valley. It now resides in the museum of Bramberg.
In 2006 Franz Gartner (the discoverer of the largest Alpine Kainosite) found a cleft full of perfect water clear Quartz crystals up to 40cm in length in the lower Untersulzbach valley.
Quartz
Austria
Salzburg, Hohe Tauern Mts, Rauris valley
Quartz Rauris 7cm Large group ~100cm recent find by G. Aschacher
A valley famous for very good Quartz finds. very often the Quartzes appear as Rauris habit crystals, comparable to Tessin habit Quartzes.
Hoher Sonnblick Mt. area, Rauris valley
Citrine H.Sonnblick 6,7cm Quartz H.Sonnblick 9cm
In this zone at the southern end of the Hüttwinkl valley, gneisses and amphibolitic migmatites are the predominant rocks.
In 1988 Huber Fink found a cleft in the north face of Hoher Sonnblick mountain. The crystals from the cleft were determined and described by Rudolf Rykart as being the first proof of genuine Citrine crystals from the Austrian Alps (Rudolf Rykart - Quartz Monografie)
Grieswies - Krumlkeeskopf Mt. area, Rauris valley
Quartz with Rutile, 15cm tall
Quartz Grieswies 11cm Quartz Grieswies 7,6cm
Quartz Grieswies 12,8cm Quartz Grieswies 5,3cm
Quartz Grieswies 11x9cm Quartz Grieswies 9cm
Within this zone, extending west of the upper Hüttwinkl valley and south of the Ritterkopf massif into the upper Krumlbach valley, Penninic amphibolites, chlorite schists, micaschists, phyllites, prasinites, quartzites, as well as triassic lime and dolomite marbles (Seidlwinkl formation) alternate in a rapid succession. In some places, such as in the cliffs of the Grieswies, the different layers are well exposed over a height of up to several hundred meters. This area is very rich in mineralized clefts, which yielded many specimens of outstanding size and quality.
Hocharn Mt., Rauris valley
Quartz Hocharn 43cm, recent find from Franz Bründl
Quartz Hocharn 15cm Quartz Hocharn 18cm
Quartz Hocharn 26cm Quartz Hocharn 23cm
The Salzburg side of Hocharn mountain. Very rich in mineralised Alpine clefts.
2007, the summer was already going towards its end when Franz Bründl was already passing the Erfurter Steig at the first light of the day. He was on his way towards Hocharn mountain, an area where one could often find him. The area is well known by many collectors so chances of finding a good cleft are very small. That day he searched the rocks recently exposed by the retreating glacier, but nothing was to be found. Late afternoon, when he was already starting to get tired, he spotted a narrow 20cm wide Quartz vein that appeared to show a small hole at the lower end. The vein however was located in an area where many collectors had been before so he had little hopes, he was sure that the cleft had been emptied by others before him. Nevertheless, he got his clefthook out and began to scratch the surface of the cleft interior and after moving 5cm of the sandy surface he looked at a perfect 15cm tall Rock Crystal. What happened next made his hart jump even more, he touched another Quartz face that didn't seem to end.......he started working like an archaeologist, nothing should get damaged.., and after some work he was holding a perfect Rock Crystal, 43cm long and 16kg heavy. He returned the following days and many more crystals followed, among others a 60cm long slender crystal. Everyday his backpack was filled to the rim, he hardly managed to bring everything down the mountain every day, but, he was in very good spirits, I suppose that gave him an extra dose of power.......
Ritterkopf Mt., Rauris valley
Quartz Ritterkopf 20cm Quartz Ritterkopf 10cm
Rock Crystal Ritterkopf 31cm
Mineralized clefts in micaschists and prasinites.
Vorsterbach valley, Rauris valley
Quartz Vorsterbach 5,1cm Quartz Vorsterbach 5cm
A major southeastern branch of the Rauris valley. Located SE of Wörth.
Quartz
Austria
Salzburg, Hohe Tauern Mts, Stubach valley, Ödenwinkel area
Quartz Eiskögele 9cm Quartz Johannisberg 13cm
This area includes the Ödenwinkel, a steep slope above the Ödenwinkel glacier, and the chain rimming it, from Hoher Kasten Mt. in the east to Johannisberg Mt. in the west. The Ödenwinkel forms the upper terminus of the Stubach valley.
The largest Quartz crystals from the Eastern Alps were found on in north face of Eiskögele mountain. On the 16th of July 1965 Peter Meilinger and Hans Hofer found gigantic Quartz crystals in an open cleft wile climbing the tricky Eiskögele north face.
The largest of the crystals was 116cm tall, 220cm in diameter and weighed 618kg.
During the very warm summer of 2003 Hannes and Gerhard Hofer went in the north face to look around the seldom ice free area around the Meilinger-Hofer cleft. They opened a new cleft containing large Quartzes with very good quality. In 2009 the Hofer brother found yet another very nice cleft in the same area. The top specimen was a cross shaped Quartz specimen, consisting of a 65cm tall Quartz crystal crossed by a 30cm large Quartz.
Quartz
Austria
Salzburg, Hohe Tauern Mts, Untersulzbach valley, Ascham Alp - Breitfuß Mt. - Sonntagskopf Mt. area,
Quartz Ascham Alp 8cm Quartz Breitfuß 9cm
This area is dominated by gneisses, just like the Abichl Alp - Beryller area, southeast to which it is located. However, there also are leucocratic gneisses present, which include a suite of rare bismuth sulphosalts.
Quartz
Austria
Salzburg, Hohe Tauern Mts, Wildgerlos valley, Wildgerlos glacier
Quartz Wildgerlos 13cm Quartz Wildgerlos 10cm
Good localities near the glacier for excellent smoky Quartz. Recently Christian Niederegger found a cleft containing large, up to 40cm tall, smoky Quartz of outstanding quality.
Quartz
Austria
Salzburg, Lungau, Murwinkel, Rotgülden, Lower Rotgülden lake, Arsenic mine
Japan Law twin Rotgülden FOV 1,2cm Quartz Rotgülden 10cm
Abandoned arsenic mine (arsenopyrite-pyrite-chalcopyrite-pyrrhotite mineralisations with minor gold).
Famous for excellent gustavite crystals collected underground.
Quartz
Austria
Salzburg, Lungau, Murwinkel, Weißeck Mt. area (incl. Rauchkopf Mt.; Riedingscharte)
Quartz Weißeck 8cm Quartz Weißeck 13cm
Located on the ridge between the Murwinkel and the upper Zederhaus valley.
The area around Weißeck mountain is dominated by dolomites and limestones of the Radstadt formation. They occupy an area that is elliptical in plan view, about 3.5 km long and up to 1.5 km wide, with Weißeck mountain located a little south of its center. Fluorite is found in outcrops and loose boulders in numerous places on the slopes, either in clefts or in quartz veins. These occurrences have been known since the late 18th century.
Quartz
Austria
Salzburg, Lungau, Zederhaus valley
23cm large Quartz from Zederhaus. The pocket was in "Grünschiefer"
Quartz Zederhaus 31kg! Quartz Zederhaus 31kg!
Quartz Zederhaus 10cm Quartz Zederhaus 16cm
Quartz Zederhaus 13,2cm Quartz Zederhaus 9cm
Valley oriented parallel to the adjacent Mur valley (Murtal).
Quartz
Austria
Styria, Graz, Wildon, Weitendorf Basalt quarry
Quartz Weitendorf FOV 4cm Chalcedony FOV 5cm
A quarry in andesitic basalt.
Famous for nice chalcedony, aragonite and zeolites (e.g., ferrierite).
Located about 1.5 km west of Weitendorf (west of Wildon and around 17 km south of Graz).
Quartz
Austria
Tyrol, East Tyrol, Tauern valley, Froßnitz valley, Wildenkogel Mt.
Smoky Quartz Wildenkogel, 9x7cm
Quartz Wildenkogel 18cm Quartz Wildenkogel 6cm
Info:
Quartz
Austria
Tyrol, East Tyrol, Virgen valley
Quartz Virgental 26,8cm Japan Law twin Pebell Alp 2cm
Info:
Quartz
Austria
Tyrol, North Tyrol, Ziller valley, Zemmgrund, Mörchner area, Mörchnerkar
Quartz Mörchner 14cm Quartz Mörchnerkar 17,7cm
Info:
Quartz
Austria
Tyrol, North Tyrol, Ziller valley, Zemmgrund, Mörchner area, Saurüssel
Quartz Saurüssel 22cm Quartz Saurüssel 3,5cm
Quartz Saurüssel 15cm Quartz Saurüssel 9cm
A steep ridge west of Kleiner Mörchner mountain and the Mörchnerkees. This area is well known for exceptional iron roses and sceptre amethysts.
The Hofer brothers cleft
Amethyst Saurüssel 17cm Amethyst Saurüssel 10cm
A remarkable Amethyst find in the Saurüssel was done by the Hofer brothers, Hannes and Gerhard, on a rainy (and snowy higher up in the mountains) day. They didn't expect anything and because most of the area was snow covered they looked at an old cleft in a small mountain stream. Because it was their only option they began to work the rock around the old cleft when all of a sudden they broke into a cleft. When one of the brother got inside with his hands he could feel crystal faces, he took it out and what they saw was something they never saw before. A 17cm large perfect Amethyst sceptre on a thin Rock Crystal stem with the deepest purple colour imaginable. The rainy day turned into a colourful festivity!
The Planitzer cleft
Sceptre Amethyst 21cm tall Amethyst 9cm tall
Another remarkable Saurüssel find was done by by Erika and Rudolf Planitzer in August 1976. Mr. and Mrs. Planitzer discovered one of the largest Amethyste-clefts ever, in this area. It took 5 days to bring all specimen down in the valley. The find was never published and the discovers don´t show them to many people. Now Mr. Planitzer decided to show some of the best pieces here on Mindat for the Best of Quartz/Austria Page.
Collection Erika and Rudolf Planitzer.
Quartz
Austria
Tyrol, North Tyrol, Ziller valley, Zillergrund
Quartz Grasleiten 22cm Quartz Elfriede 20cm
Info:
Click here to view Best Minerals Quartz and here for Best Minerals A to Z and here for Fast Navigation of Best Minerals articles.forum.php?read,95,204053,204053#msg-204053
Tue, 26 Sep 2017 22:33:27 +0100Phorum 5.2.15aforum.php?read,95,204053,325216#msg-325216Re: Quartz, Austriaforum.php?read,95,204053,325216#msg-325216
I could not resist to add an outstanding Rock Crystal from the Aschacher find at the locality "Ritterkopf".Hope you like it.

Rudolf]]>Rudolf HaslerBest Minerals - QuartzWed, 26 Dec 2012 09:18:22 +0000forum.php?read,95,204053,280270#msg-280270Re: Quartz, Austriaforum.php?read,95,204053,280270#msg-280270
I think, there is a very important locality for Amethyst here in Lower Austria: Maissau. This occurrence is one of the best of this kind of Amethyst in the world. Please take a look on my Mindat HP.

http://www.mindat.org/loc-246045.html]]>Martin RichBest Minerals - QuartzWed, 26 Dec 2012 00:07:48 +0000forum.php?read,95,204053,272186#msg-272186Re: Quartz, Austriaforum.php?read,95,204053,272186#msg-272186
thanks a lot for your trusting in me. I have changed the location of the great Carinthian Amethyst find from "Stanziwurten" to "Sandkopf" as this is the real correct description. "Stanziwurten" is in the west of the cleft while the peak of "Sandkopf" is directly above it.

Beste Grüße aus Bad Bleiberg,

Rudolf]]>Rudolf HaslerBest Minerals - QuartzWed, 26 Sep 2012 22:27:34 +0100forum.php?read,95,204053,272159#msg-272159Re: Quartz, Austriaforum.php?read,95,204053,272159#msg-272159
Feel free to add or edit whatever you want in the Quartz article, I've seen your work in the Fluorite article, and it is perfect, exactly like I want the lay-out to be like. Great!!

Cheers,

Harjo]]>Harjo NeutkensBest Minerals - QuartzWed, 26 Sep 2012 18:07:17 +0100forum.php?read,95,204053,263816#msg-263816Re: Quartz, Austriaforum.php?read,95,204053,263816#msg-263816
I have tried to take some photos of bigger crystals. One of them really might be worth to show you.http://www.mindat.org/photo-470924.html

Rudolf]]>Rudolf HaslerBest Minerals - QuartzFri, 15 Jun 2012 17:03:52 +0100forum.php?read,95,204053,263700#msg-263700Re: Quartz, Austriaforum.php?read,95,204053,263700#msg-263700
I'll check your photos tomorrow Rudolf, and add the other photos too.I added the photo of Petra in the Kluft to the preface. Hope you like it.Many thanks again for your help. It's becoming a reference article.]]>Harjo NeutkensBest Minerals - QuartzThu, 14 Jun 2012 23:12:21 +0100forum.php?read,95,204053,263667#msg-263667Re: Quartz, Austriaforum.php?read,95,204053,263667#msg-263667
I'll add them today!]]>Harjo NeutkensBest Minerals - QuartzThu, 14 Jun 2012 07:48:22 +0100forum.php?read,95,204053,263576#msg-263576Re: Quartz, Austriaforum.php?read,95,204053,263576#msg-263576
That looks good. I can't imagine Harjo not wanting to put it in the article.]]>Rock CurrierBest Minerals - QuartzWed, 13 Jun 2012 09:58:58 +0100forum.php?read,95,204053,263566#msg-263566Re: Quartz, Austriaforum.php?read,95,204053,263566#msg-263566
Hallo Harjo,I have taken a lot of pictures from Hubert Fink's alpine collection which is surely one of the best in Austria. You might find some useful material for your best minerals projects in my most recent photos, I hope. There is also a better pic of the Amethyst with the most intense color.

Rudolf]]>Rudolf HaslerBest Minerals - QuartzWed, 13 Jun 2012 06:47:15 +0100forum.php?read,95,204053,262666#msg-262666Re: Quartz, Austriaforum.php?read,95,204053,262666#msg-262666
It looks better. On Thursday I am going to take some new pics from Hubert's collection. I hope that I will be able to get a better photo of this incredible crystal.

Rudolf]]>Rudolf HaslerBest Minerals - QuartzTue, 05 Jun 2012 09:21:37 +0100forum.php?read,95,204053,262660#msg-262660Re: Quartz, Austriaforum.php?read,95,204053,262660#msg-262660
I did a tweak using photoshop on the image. Does the attached image look any closer to the original?

]]>Rock CurrierBest Minerals - QuartzTue, 05 Jun 2012 08:27:50 +0100forum.php?read,95,204053,262553#msg-262553Re: Quartz, Austriaforum.php?read,95,204053,262553#msg-262553
I have just posted a pic of the best specimen from the spectacular Amethyst find on Sandkopf mountain. Although the picture is not really good it should be in your article. When I find the time I will go to Hubert Fink and take a better pic of it together with some more excellent alpine specimens that you will like.

Rudolf]]>Rudolf HaslerBest Minerals - QuartzMon, 04 Jun 2012 11:37:43 +0100forum.php?read,95,204053,261288#msg-261288Re: Quartz, Austriaforum.php?read,95,204053,261288#msg-261288
Harjo NeutkensBest Minerals - QuartzSun, 20 May 2012 23:18:12 +0100forum.php?read,95,204053,261159#msg-261159Re: Quartz, Austriaforum.php?read,95,204053,261159#msg-261159
I have just seen the headline: Opening a cleft on Ankogel mountain.This is not really correct. It should be: Opening a cleft in the Ankogel Group.As the finders of this cleft are still working at it the exact locality cannot be named yet.I hope you don't mind.

Greetings fromRudolf]]>Rudolf HaslerBest Minerals - QuartzFri, 18 May 2012 22:39:49 +0100forum.php?read,95,204053,258897#msg-258897Re: Quartz, Austriaforum.php?read,95,204053,258897#msg-258897
I delated the photo from mindat. Uploading this was not correct by me. Thank you for your helpfull offer. I know Bertl Scharfetter not personaly. If you have a better contact to Rainer or Erwin, please ask them, if we can use this or a equal photograph for mindat. I love this photo and I think the most other mindat-members like it also! It shows a very, very rare moment in a collector's live. Collectors from Australia to Canada and Russia,... can see, what is possible in our small country. I hope Rainer and Bertl are agree with our request.

Martin

"Komme gleich" ("I´ll be right there") - Gotot]]>Martin RichBest Minerals - QuartzTue, 24 Apr 2012 03:33:22 +0100forum.php?read,95,204053,258827#msg-258827Re: Quartz, Austriaforum.php?read,95,204053,258827#msg-258827
I have uploaded some pretty nice images of the Döpper Collection. Maybe some will be useful for the article.

Grüße Rudolf]]>Rudolf HaslerBest Minerals - QuartzMon, 23 Apr 2012 14:13:35 +0100forum.php?read,95,204053,258763#msg-258763Re: Quartz, Austriaforum.php?read,95,204053,258763#msg-258763
The invitation sounds great, especially the wine tasting part ;-)As soon as you hear from Rainer I'll add the photo to the article. If you want I can also ask Rainer or Erwin (I drank many glasses of wine with Erwin in Bramberg over the years..) for the original photo.

Martin]]>Martin RichBest Minerals - QuartzSat, 21 Apr 2012 20:23:05 +0100forum.php?read,95,204053,258624#msg-258624Re: Quartz, Austriaforum.php?read,95,204053,258624#msg-258624
A journalist who had traveled the world and reported on many things was asked by a childhood friend who had never left their small town "How people live out there." He replied, "Well, if they know how."]]>Rock CurrierBest Minerals - QuartzSat, 21 Apr 2012 02:29:04 +0100forum.php?read,95,204053,258620#msg-258620Re: Quartz, Austriaforum.php?read,95,204053,258620#msg-258620
sorry for my late reply, but my profession is a fulltime job.Ok, now some complete different. There are a lot of Quartz-occurrences in the Austrian part of the bohemian massife. Most there are Quatz-veins and pegmatites. Sometimes there are clefts like in the Alps but not in this dimensions like there. A example for a pegmatite is the Königsalm in Lower Austria. There was discoverd Smoky Quartz in gemmy quality with a sice up to ~ 50 cm! Unfortunately not in my collection. :-( I will make photos from specimen in my collection and give you informations about the localities. I hope the quality of my photographs is good enough for you. Please wate one or two weeks I have it done.

Please tell me if you visit Austria, so we make a short day-trip. Beginnig in the Stift Melk/Donau, there is a very interessting historical mineralcollection of very good quality we can see. At next we visit Gerald Knobloch. He has one of the best collections with minerals of Lower Austrian occurrences. Than after crossing the Danube-river visiting Erwin Löffler, also a very good collector. Driving along the Danube throu the famous Wachau we come to Spitz/Donau. In Spitz is a friend of me, Josef Bauer. He is winemaker and he collecting minerals in his homearea - a perfect combination I think! The last point of the day is a winetasting in his cellar (Chardonay, Grüner Veltliner and my favourite: Neuburger).

Glück Auf!Martin]]>Martin RichBest Minerals - QuartzFri, 20 Apr 2012 23:53:57 +0100forum.php?read,95,204053,258417#msg-258417Re: Quartz, Austriaforum.php?read,95,204053,258417#msg-258417
Harjo NeutkensBest Minerals - QuartzWed, 18 Apr 2012 14:40:14 +0100forum.php?read,95,204053,258402#msg-258402Re: Quartz, Austriaforum.php?read,95,204053,258402#msg-258402
You placed the images exactly there where I had put them. But there is one thing I want to ask you: Please, take out my name there, because I did not take these wonderful photographs. I do not want to be honored for something that was not my merit.